Another dimension of the conflict between the United States and China …



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Foreign Affairs magazine, in a report published Wednesday, shed light on the nature of the Sino-American rivalry, saying that the actual conflict between the two countries is based on value rather than economic or military fundamentals.

The magazine cited realistic examples to confirm that while Western countries, led by the United States, govern the rules of foreign policy, dialogue diplomacy and the adoption of human values, China does not pay attention to the values ​​and principles of its support. for dictatorships around the world.

During his election campaign, US President Joe Biden vowed to put values ​​at the center of his administration’s China policy.

Since taking office, he has called on the world’s democracies to prepare for a new era of strategic competition with China, where they “work to ensure peace, uphold common values ​​and promote prosperity.”

Some “realist” foreign policy experts say, in the words of Foreign Affairs, that it is better to approach the competitor from a political perspective and leave values ​​aside.

Chinese leaders have long assumed that their counterparts in Washington would never consider the authoritarian Communist Party legitimate, which is relatively true.

Chinese leaders also seem to believe that efforts to increase China’s power and influence cannot be fully successful unless the global system becomes one in which authoritarian powers can flourish.

Through economic coercion and diplomatic pressure, Beijing sought to suppress speech even in democratic societies like Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, China is providing surveillance teams to autocrats around the world and, at the same time, working to change the rules and operations of international organizations to favor authoritarian models.

China’s leaders are promoting authoritarianism abroad for the same reason that Americans glorify democracy abroad: “They hope to be more confident and influential in a world that shares their political values,” the magazine says.

Shared principles are essential to forging strong international alliances today, and while European democracies are far from Chinese military might, they are concerned about China’s challenges to global norms and norms.

The magazine noted that there is a clear moral asymmetry between an unelected one-party regime and its democratic rivals.

Moral symmetry, in turn, allows Washington to critically distinguish between the Communist Party, which the United States opposes, and the Chinese people, whose aspirations the United States should support.

Defining such distinctions is not the same as promoting democracy through strong regime change. It is an admission that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

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